


Unspoken

by Bulletproof_love



Category: Law & Order: SVU
Genre: Comfort, Comfort/Angst, Dreams and Nightmares, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Father-Son Relationship, Fatherhood, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Night Terrors, Nightmares, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, chief dodds - Freeform, chief william dodds - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-23
Updated: 2018-09-23
Packaged: 2019-07-16 05:38:33
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 589
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16079558
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Bulletproof_love/pseuds/Bulletproof_love
Summary: In the aftermath of the Munson shooting, Mike struggles to recover both physically and mentally.





	Unspoken

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you to tobeconspicuous for being such a fantastic beta.

It had been a nightmare .

Mike had known that right from the very second, the door to Munson’s house had swung shut behind him. The details never changed, he re-lived his brush with death nightly. He felt the searing agony explode in his gut, the taste of gunpowder in his , the scent of copper in his nostrils…

His breaths were ragged, chest heaving. His body was slick with perspiration, vest clinging to his flesh as he kicked at the blanket that was twisted around his legs. He had fallen asleep on the couch again, TV still on in the background.

Already Mike could hear the familiar footsteps of his father on the stairs. Mike sucked in a deep breath in an attempt to regain some of his composure. He straightened his spine, his trembling hand running through his dark hair, brushing the dark locks away from his eyes. He knew that he must have cried out in his sleep again, that was the only reason William would be on his way down.

It was hard for Mike to come to terms with this version of himself. Every night he saw that gun, the one that had torn up his insides and he drowned in the fear that came with it. It haunted his dreams, overwhelmed his consciousness in a way that made him terrified to sleep.

"Mike?" William questioned, the concern evident in his voice.

Mike hated that sound, he wanted to go back to the days before the shooting before he had become some frightened kid who was afraid of the dark all over again.

"I'm fine, Dad," Mike said quietly, keeping his gaze fixated upon the TV. "Go back to bed."

"Couldn't sleep,” he ran the palm of his hand across his weary features. "Too busy thinking about the cryptic clues in the New York Times."

It was a lie and both of them knew it, Mike still appreciated the gesture though. William understood the importance of pride better than anybody else. Mike allowed his gaze to flicker to William, he watched as William settled himself into his usual armchair before his weathered hand came to rest upon the remote.

"You mind if I stay up and watch something?" William asked.

The real unspoken question bubbled up into the space between them.

_Do you want company?_

The truth was Mike slept better with William there. There was something soothing about his presence and Mike understood that stemmed from their interactions when he was a kid. When he had been afraid of the bogey man, William had been the one to help him search under the bed with a torch, he would spend hours reading the sports pages to Mike as he drifted to sleep. It was a similar principle here and the vulnerable side of Mike grasped onto that security blanket as tightly as it could.

"Sure." Mike said with a deliberate shrug of his shoulders. "I couldn't sleep anyway."

It was a concession, not one he made lightly. William acknowledged it with a simple nod before turning his attention back to TV. That's what Mike liked about him, there was no fuss and he needed that right now.

"You wanna watch the game again?" William stated before continuing. "I missed some of the highlights."

Another lie, but yet again one that Mike was grateful for. Sports was a comfort zone for him, one that he always retreated to after a bad day.

"Sure." He agreed before settling down into a more comfortable position on the couch.

 


End file.
